Ver2 Classroom Environment Analysis

Technology is a part of everyday life and being integrated into more and more fields every day. Computers and the Internet are used in every aspect of our daily lives. With that being said online learning has become more and more prevalent. Most colleges and university have an online learning presence in order to extend the university reach and to help better serve the students who can’t make it into a physical classroom. In this article, Read Only Participants: Communication in online classes, authors Nagel, Blignaut, and Cronj (2009) takes on the argument that participation is a key reason for a student to be successful in the class.

Dabbagh, N. (2007). The online learner: characteristics and pedagogical implications. Contemporary Issuesin Technology and Teacher Education, 7, 3, 217–226.

In today’s society, so many people are continuing their education beyond high school. We realize that in order to make a decent living, a degree is most likely a requirement. In some cases even a bachelor’s degree is not enough to qualify for many positions. Nevertheless, thanks to technology, we now have the option to learn online or in a traditional classroom setting. There are very few differences between the two, and students need to understand that as much time and energy will need to be devoted to the online courses as on a campus. “A 2010 meta-analysis and review of online-learning studies concluded that online learning was as good as or slightly more effective than traditional face-to-face instruction” (Mendenhall, 2011).

The Internet has dramatically changed the world today as much as the Industrial Revolution changed the world two centuries ago. It revolutionized many fields such as education. Many educational institutions offer online courses providing time, distance, and place advantages for learners who work full time or live miles away from their schools. Rachel Farhi, an editor of The Daily Cougar, in her article “Online education innovators should be wary,” states that distance learning classes give students from disadvantaged areas opportunities to learn knowledge through reducing the cost. On the other hand, online courses bring some disadvantages, such as no social interaction, academic dishonesty, and procrastination. David Smith, an editor of The Daily Nebraskan, in his article “Reliance on online materials hinders learning potential for students,” claims that web-based learning cannot be a substitute for on-campus classes because e-learning decreases students’ learning pressure and motivation. Once students have less pressure to study, their academic performance may be negatively influenced. It is more likely that online education decreases students’ learning effectiveness and quality, even though it provides convenience and cost efficiency for them. After reading the two articles, I do not think that online education is as good as traditional education. Smith is absolutely right that online education is not as effective as regular classroom

I decided to choose the American Society of Radiologic Technologists (ASRT) website because I would like to learn more about it and how the process of advancing medical imaging and improving patient care works. Starting with its history, it wasn’t until 1984 that the foundation started to become a big part of the radiography world. It took previous knowledge and experiences from radiographic technologists to form this foundation. All original board members had to first support themselves before supporting others. It was a difficult task according to Becky Kruse, but definitely worth it. It certainly takes a lot of support for this foundation to be successful. I learned more about the ASRT exploring this website. I never knew they had a scholarship program and research grants. I’m lucky to live in such a country with advanced technology.

However, I graduated from the program with discipline, hard work and self-determination, as I saw it a stepping stone to my educational aspiration in obtaining an education and a career in the field of Radiologic Technology. My interest in this program started when I was a teenager living abroad in the Dominican Republic and I had to get a CT-Scan for an injury. Despite being in discomfort and pain at the time, I remembered asking the technician a lot of questions about the equipment and how it worked and what the images of the scan explained about my injury. The field of radiology technology interacts with all areas of medicine and it not only offers specialization but it offers new challenges and offers numerous learning opportunities to further my knowledge. From that interaction with the radiographer, is when I began to pursue my interest

The purpose of this project was not only to create an orientation packet for the incoming student technologist, but also to expand my understanding about the locations in my facility that I had yet to visit prior to this project. It also enabled me to familiarize myself with key figures to learn their background in radiology, and for them to get more acquainted with me for future employment possibilities.

This paper presents a theoretical model of online instruction and learning to mirror a constructivist approach to education. Constructivism is a common approach to learning and more and more districts are employing online learning environments in its schools. Course content and delivery elements are explored as they apply specifically to online learning in a K-12 environment. Other components of the construction of a web-based learning environment includes student motivation, student assessment, and the role the teacher plays in the online environment. The findings of this research paper depicted that whether learning takes place completely in an online course, or as part of a blended approach to learning, there still needs to be a strong structural foundation for the online learning environment to be effective. Overall, interaction between the teacher and learners, as well as peer interaction, is critical to the success of any online learning.

However, advocates of classroom learning believe the online method isolates the students from one another as well as their professor minimizing the overall value of taking the course. They also claim that students learn better when working together with their instructor and their fellow classmates. Students learn better when they are given the opportunity to ask questions, join in class discussions, and they move the process of learning forward through their participation. Face-to-face advocates firmly believe that this kind of interaction is not possible over the Internet; and for many types of education, e-learning will never meet the potential of live human interaction in the classroom. An article in the New York Times titled, “Second Thoughts on Online Education,” backs up the points made above. A recent research published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, comes to the conclusion; “A rush to online education

A virtual classroom setting becomes more effective as technology advances. It gives a student’s more options to gain their education while having other obligations. Distant learning dates, back to the 1800’ and it has advanced over time with the growth of technology. As technology keeps moving forward the virtual setting has will continue to have many benefits to help the student be more successful. The virtual setting has created an environment where online learning has the accreditation that gives the authorities to have the quality of the education or training given by the colleges for higher education. Despite the claim an online class is as credible due to course flexibility, student motivation, limited distraction, social involvement, time and money.

Education has undergone significant changes because of the development of information and communication technology over the 21st century (Lin & Jou, 2012:2). As a convenient and inexpensive way to gain knowledge while pursuing higher education, online learning, a form of training or teaching that takes place over the Internet, has been considered as an alternative to traditional classroom learning (Zhang et al, 2004). This essay will argue that even though online learning has benefit such as flexibility which could outweigh traditional learning, traditional classroom learning might still not be entirely replaced. This essay will discuss positive and negative aspects of online and traditional learning in terms of four criteria:

Technology is changing every aspect in our lives, even the way we learn. Online classes are a rapidly growing trend it today’s society. Online classes are a cost-effective substitute for traditional courses and more convenient for many, so more schools and universities are offering this option. Due to the increase in online course enrollment, people are questioning if students truly learn something from online classes because it’s not a traditional learning environment. Online classes are just, if not more, effective as traditional classes because grades have increased and online discussions provide students with the chance to interact through networking while earning a degree for less than what it would cost to enroll at the same university.

College course completion can occur anywhere and in any space. Preference of online learning has become the norm for over 25% of students enrolled in an online courses at the undergraduate and postsecondary level (Young, & Bruce, 2011; Elaine Allen, & Seaman, 2007). Diverse distant education options (online course programs, e-learning programs), have presented challenges for both students and instructors, leading to extensive research on the tenets of what constitutes quality learning in the differing virtual settings (Boling, Hough, Krinsky, Saleem, & Stevens, 2012; Oncu, & Cakir, 2011). The increase of dropout rates across community colleges and universities has compelled the review of instructional practices in online settings (Lee, & Choi, 2011;2010; Xu, D., & Jaggars, 2013).

The essential problem presented in this research deals with instructors taking the role of online educators without proper support and application of research that clearly describes an effective process that constitutes achievements and goals. Thus, several online teaching and learning dimensions are presented to explain many successes and barriers that are often experienced today in online instruction.

Negative views of online classroom structure rightly point out difficulties when face-to-face or traditional classroom content is ill-adapted to the online environment (Bacon & MacKinnon, 2014). These classrooms do not utilize the advantages of interactive technology, instead preferring media that supports